Archive for the 'Market Update' Category
Bank owned properties in Livermore
February 27th, 2008 Categories: Livermore Real Estate, Market Update
We are now seeing affordable homes in Livermore again.
Its been a long time since we have seen homes under $400,000 and now we are seeing some in the low $300,000 price range. See this 3 BR 2 Bath home on Sunset Dr. priced today at only $309,950 is now one of many bank owned properties in Livermore available on the market and they have priced this to sell fast. This property would have sold for well over $500,000 last year. One bank owned property around the corner (on Bannock) sold recently in just a few days priced at $334,950. With many first time buyer programs available you can still get 100% financing with 30 year fixed rate financing at reasonable rates (income restrictions apply). A credit score of 620 is needed so check with your lender and see if you qualify. Don’t have a lender, call us, as we work with the best lenders in the Bay Area who look out for your best interests with low rates and fee’s and in many cases we can get the bank to pay all of the closing costs.
Check these other Bank owned properties in Livermore under $500,000 .
Call us at 925-337-2370 or email us for a list of Bank owned properties in Livermore, Ca.
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Livermore Market Update
January 24th, 2008 Categories: Livermore Real Estate, Market Update, Uncategorized
The results are in as as expected and 2007 was a rather disappointing year in comparison to recent years. No surprise that total sales in 2007 for Livermore was down 26% from 2006. What is surprising is the strong downward movement in the median sales price from $660,000 in July 2007 to $545,000 in December 2007. Inventory levels are down considerably from the fall which is normal for this time of year. Good news is the absorbsion rate (pending sales under contract compared to active inventory) is down to 9 months from 14 months in September 2007. The next 4 weeks will give us a good clue on how these numbers will point the direction of the market this coming new year. Keep watch for future updates.
A little dated from October 2007 is the California Association of Realtors forecast for 2008 (pdf file of 114 pages) which does offer some fabulous statistical information on the Real Estate market during the 1980’s and 1990’s with comparisons of inventory levels (18 months in 1992) and median sales price (under $200,000 in 1997) through 2006. It does give a great perspective on where the market has been in the past and what we may expect in the future. We will digest some of this information in future updates. The good news for now is that this is a great time to buy your first home or move up to that dream home and that even with these lower price levels Sellers have come a long way in the last 10 years.
Livermore December 2007 Statistics
California Association of Realtors 2008 Forecast
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Bargain Buys in Livermore under $500,000
January 23rd, 2008 Categories: Livermore Real Estate, Market Update, Weekly Market Updates
We are starting the new year with some great homes available at prices that can only be labeled as bargain buys. Many of these homes are priced $100,000-$150,000 below prices from 18 months ago. I will be putting up a list weekly of what I consider some of the best buys from the local MLS-IDX of the MAXMLS system. We will start with under $500,000 (some are even under $400,000) and put up various price ranges so check back and see what the bargains are.
Bargain Buys in Livermore under $500,000
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Pin The Tail On The Bottom Of The Market
November 8th, 2007 Categories: Livermore Real Estate, Market Update
I Received this from Cary Cowper who is the Community Sales Manager at the Grove here in Livermore. Originally came from Ron Nelson at Sherman Advertising and Cary added the loan comparison. This is an excellent representation of what we are seeing in the market today. There are some excellent opportunities today to find homes well below prices from earlier this year and even last year.
We all have been working with would be home buyers here in Livermore. All of them feel that they should wait until the housing market is at the bottom before they buy a home. Let’s look at an interesting take on "the bottom of the market" and how it will effect your buying decision.
This is a graph that represents the Livermore housing market. The left side of the V represents the market going down, the right side represents the market going up, and of course the bottom of the V represents the bottom of the housing market.
If I asked you to plot on this
graph where you thought the housing
market was right now …
… would you pick this spot or something close?
So you think that the market is going towards the bottom. If the market isn’t at the bottom yet, how will you know when it does hit the bottom?
How will you know when the housing market hits the bottom?
Experience tells us you won’t know that the housing market has hit the bottom until prices start to go back up. It will be difficult to be sure that the market has hit bottom for a few months. It’s not a sudden shift, it’s a gradual shift. You’ll be able to tell that the market has turned when prices reach this point (green arrow).
What is the difference in housing prices between the red arrow and the green arrow?
Not much… but there is another difference and it is major.
If you buy a home on the left side of the graph, it is considered a buyers market. You would be more likely to get concessions from a seller including price reductions, repairs, upgrades, closing costs, maybe even personal property.
If you wait until the market turns and you buy on the upswing, you and every other buyer that has been waiting for the market to hit bottom will be bidding on the same house.
There really is no better time to buy a house than now for a few reasons:
1. There is a wonderful selection of homes to choose from right now.
2. Sellers are very willing to negotiate on price, terms and perks.
3. Interest rates are still at a historical low.
I am suggesting we take a good look at the above examples and decide what percentage the prices will have to drop before a buyer thinks housing prices have hit bottom and offer that price. For example, if you think that prices will go down another 5%, then submit an offer at 5% below the asking price. Sellers will either counter, accept or decline. Then look at a loan payment based on current low interest rates. On an $875,000 home with an accepted offer 5% below asking, you’d end up at $831,250. Putting 20% down ($166,250) your loan would be $665,000. At 6% payments would run $3,325. If interest rates were to go up only half a point to 6.5%, the same home with the same $166,250 down would have to sell for $797,000 to end up with a similar loan payment.
The message here is to take advantage of the market today! Opportunity is knocking now!
November and December are historically the best months to buy Real Estate. Rates are also low at this time due to low demands from the markets. The Real Estate market always increases after the holidays and rates start increasing as the demand turns back up.
If you would like to see what we see as the best bargains on the market today- Give us a call or e-mail and put our 30 years of experience in both up and down markets to work for you.
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New Listing *1132 Marlys Common* Open Sunday
October 21st, 2007 Categories: Livermore Real Estate, Market Update
Livermore Open House Sunday 1:30-4:00
1132 Marlys Common, Livermore, Ca. $510,000
Luxury Townhome in South Livermore. 3 Bedroom 2.5 Bath plus Loft which could be fourth Bedroom. Only 12 years old w/ large open rooms, cathedral ceiling in Master plus private patio and 2 car garage. Excellent Schools- Sunset Elementary and walking distance to Civic Center, Library, Downtown and near Biking/Walking Tails, Wineries and More.
Listing info 1132 Marlys Common
Virtual Tour www.1132Marlys.com
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U.S. ECONOMY WILL AVOID RECESSION, UCLA FORECASTS
September 17th, 2007 Categories: Livermore News, Livermore Real Estate, Market Update
California’s economy will limp to the brink of recession this year, thanks to a decline in jobs and the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis, according to the latest quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast.
The forecast says that 2007 will see a peak in subprime mortgage resets but adds that mortgage defaults are expected to continue well into the first half of 2008. As a result, the housing market will continue to drag on the state’s economy until early 2009, with expected job growth of less than 1 percent through Sept. 2008 and unemployment topping out at 5.9 percent by the end of next year.
"California is in for at least another year of economic doldrums, with rising unemployment, weak job growth, and a slowdown in all broad indicators," said UCLA economist Ryan Ratcliff.
Nationally, the U.S. economy also will just barely avoid recession and begin making a slow move toward economic recovery in 2008. UCLA’s forecast calls for growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 1 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008, with a return to 3 percent in 2009, avoiding the traditional definition of a recession, which is two consecutive quarters of a GDP decline.
UCLA’s forecast also lowered predictions for U.S. housing starts for 2007 to more than 1.1 million units, but predicts a modest climb to 1.4 million units by the end of 2009.
Courtesy of California Association of Realtors
For more information see press release from Ucla Forecast
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Market Update
August 15th, 2007 Categories: Dublin Real Estate, Livermore Real Estate, Market Update, Pleasanton Real Estate, Weekly Market Updates
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Market Update
August 12th, 2007 Categories: Dublin Real Estate, Livermore Real Estate, Market Update, Pleasanton Real Estate, Weekly Market Updates
Weekly Update
If anything, worries are multiplying among economic analysts that the number of defaults and, eventually, foreclosures from unraveling existing mortgages will continue to rise. What is perhaps most startling at this point, though, is that worries extend way beyond the somewhat limited world of mortgages to the entire world of credit, debt, borrowing, lending. Further, the overall economy isn’t being viewed with as much optimism as was recently the case.
Patrick Schmid of Moody’s Economy.com puts it this way: “There is no doubt that an international credit tightening is under way. It began with the
“All told,” Schmid concludes, “today’s market shows some elements of a credit crunch—but not enough to warrant pinning the label on with certainty.”
Whether or not we want to call it a “crunch,” however, has little bearing on the fact that the markets are clearly full of concern and, in some cases, incipient panic. Things get very confusing when fears start to roil the market: We see the 10-year T-bill rate fall heavily at the same time that mortgage rates edge north, for example. There is no explaining it. It will take time for the markets to sort out their emotions (or, more specifically, their reading of our economy’s future).
Until then, we would be wisest, one suspects, to take most of the conclusions put forward by economic analysts with a massive grain of salt. We’re in not-make-sense territory, watching with justifiable concern to see if defaults and foreclosures rise to worrisome heights…if lenders show even more reticence about making the kinds of loans they were making all day long just a few months ago (especially the huge loans made for corporate buy-outs and restructurings)…and if the real estate market can weather the storms and do what it does best, which is simply to focus on the buying and selling of personal residences. There is still reason to put a great deal of faith in real estate, as we’ll likely see in months to come.
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Market Update
July 25th, 2007 Categories: Dublin Real Estate, Livermore Real Estate, Market Update, Pleasanton Real Estate, Weekly Market Updates
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Market Update
July 11th, 2007 Categories: Dublin Real Estate, Livermore Real Estate, Market Update, Pleasanton Real Estate, Weekly Market Updates
Weekly Commentary
We can sense a trend now. Mortgage rates are gradually rising. The number of new applications for purchase money mortgages remains relatively strong, though the multiple applications from most prospective homebuyers inflates the number of expected sales. New home sales continue to fare better, generally, than do sales of existing homes.
Let’s look at a couple of these aspects of the market a little more closely.
It is actually somewhat amazing to this observer that the Fed has remained so concerned about the possibility that inflation would rise—but it has (at least, in its public pronouncements). There is a general belief that the economy will continue to grow at an adequately rapid pace, despite the slowing of the real estate market. So far, this seems to be true. It is difficult, though, to be confident of this unless the real estate market remains fairly warm.
In the context of this belief, however, it makes sense for interest rates to climb gradually out of the deep lows they recently experienced…back to more “normal” levels. (This is all a matter of perception, of course. Bill Gross, the bond market guru, seems to be certain that the Fed will lower the fed funds rate within the coming six months, as the subprime mortgage problems continue to erode both the real estate market and overall credit quality.)
What we have to the left, in any case, are the average interest rates on mortgage loans currently being originated. It is worth reminding you that these are almost always higher than the best available rates, which are published by bankrate.com and other sources. The average rates, published by HSH Assoc., tend to be a better initial guide to the current market for potential borrowers, because they may be able to do better, whereas with the best available rates, they are very likely to face higher rates for their own loans.
As for the better sales performance from new homes than from existing homes, the fact is that builders tend to have better promotional techniques at hand for a market like this. They can offer to pay the buyer’s points, to help the buyer sell his or her own home, to throw in landscaping or carpeting for free. Notice, though, that private homesellers can do many of these things, including interest rate buydowns for their buyers. Perhaps the existing homes market would improve somewhat if private sellers studied what is working fairly well for new home builders.
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